He Poroporoaki, for string quartet and taonga puoro, was co-composed by Gareth Farr & Richard Nunns for the 2008 Dawn Service Commeration at Gallipoli, Turkey.
Since 2006, a Turkish, Australian, or New Zealand composer has been invited to contribute a work leading up to the 100th anniversary of the landings at Gallipoli in 2015. He Poroporoaki is the third work in this ‘Spirit of Place' series of commissions (2006-2015), which seek to create an ambience before the period of silence at the Dawn Services held at the commemoration site.
The five minute work was intended to feature something of New Zealand's spirit and is a ‘deconstructed' version of Now is the Hour. Initially published as a piano-variations piece called Swiss Cradle Song and credited to Australian, Clement Scott, Now is the Hour has had a number of modifications and title changes, including the addition of Maori words in the version of Po Atarau, which was used to farewell Maori soldiers going to the First World War.
Gareth Farr is an indisputably colourful figure in New Zealand music. And whether scored for percussion duet or the resources of two large orchestras, Farr's music reflects his personality – bold, brash, or delicate and sensuous, but inevitably, immediately, engaging. Rhythmic elements of his compositions can be linked to the complex and exciting rhythms of Rarotongan log drum ensembles, Balinese gamelan and other percussion music of the Pacific Rim. In addition to his music for the concert chamber, Farr has written music for dance, theatre and television.
